An Unappreciated Hero
by Taintless
Summary: Harry's after saving them all but has died in the process. Now Dudley's at his funeral... will things ever be different?


Harry Potter was a hero.

Everyone was saying it. He was a hero. He was a magnificent wizard. He had died to save them all. He was a Gryffindor to the heart. Brave, strong and loyal.

Dudley Dursley had never thought much of him, himself.

He didn't really know why he was here anyway.

It just seemed so… strange.

Dudley was only going to his seat and he was already bored. People around him were all praising Harry and Dudley could hardly join in, could he?

When that old man, Dumbledore, had turned up at the Dursley's door yesterday, he had not been welcome. But in the man walked, looking grimly determined.

"You may want to sit down, all three of you," the man said. "I'm sorry to have to burst in on you like this but I'm afraid I have to inform you that your nephew, and cousin, has died. He died yesterday. I'm sorry to have to give you such bad news."

The three Dursleys sat and stared at the man. Now, it's not as if they were _happy_ or anything that Harry had died but it wasn't as if it was going to make rainbows fall out of the sky now, either.

So they all stared.

Dumbledore nodded, as if he understood, and got up to let himself out. "One last thing," he said gently. "His funeral is tomorrow. I shall come collect you at nine in the morning. Good day." Then Dumbledore was gone.

Dudley was still unsure as to why his father didn't stop Dumbledore before he left, or why his mother didn't shriek about how the neighbours would see Dumbledore with his long beard and strange hat, or why his dad didn't demand that Dumbledore didn't dare return to their house ever again!

But they did none of these things.

It seemed as if they were all… unnerved.

They didn't discuss it, not even when Dumbledore turned up at their front door. They were all ready, in their smart clothes, quiet and unresponsive.

Ad now Dudley was sitting down and Dumbledore was insisting that they sat up in front beside Harry's close friends.

"You are," Dumbledore said, "his last living relatives, after all."

That the first time that the something tightened inside of Dudley. He didn't know what it was.

Suddenly, one of the boys beside him, looked at him and yelled, "Oi, What's he doing here?"

"And look, his dad and mom's here too!" his identical twin said.

Another red head looked over at him. His eyes were extremely blood-shot.

"All they've ever done is make Harry miserable…"

"Ron! Fred! George!" called a girl with frizzy brown hair. "Stop, right now!"

"But Hermione…" Ron said.

"Please Ron!" Her voice was suddenly quieter. "Not here. Not now."

Ron took her in is arms as she began to cry hoarsely.

Dudley looked away, something inside of him feeling odd. Dudley wanted to go home. He was so… uncomfortable. He knew that these were Harry's best friends.

A memory hit him suddenly, right in the head.

__

"I know what day it is," Dudley said, coming right up beside Harry.

"Well done," Harry replied. "So you've finally leant the days of the well."

"Today's your birthday," sneered Dudley. "How come you haven't got any cards? Haven't you even got friends in that freak place?"

That was definitely strange. Dudley never remembered things. Especially unimportant things like that.

Dudley felt even more uncomfortable.

He could hear the girl's, Hermione's, sobs from beside him.

I shouldn't be sitting up here, Dudley thought slowly. These are Harry's friends. They cared about him.__

Dumbledore's voice was in his head now. _"…his last living relatives…"_

What was happening to Dudley? He felt… weird. Not nice.

The funeral was starting.

It was different than a normal one. It was a wizard one, he supposed. The coffin floated up by itself, slowly, with an enchanted piano playing a song. Dudley, for the first time, realised that magic was kind of… cool. Why hadn't he cared about it before?

But his father had already said…

Dudley couldn't think anymore because now the boy, Ron, was crying too beside him.

Dudley had seen boys cry before (while he was beating them up or whatever) but he had never seen a boy cry like this.

He felt like he'd eaten too much but he hadn't eaten for a couple hours now. It was all very strange.

Dumbledore stood up and looked out at them all. His eyes rested on Hermione and Ron crying. He nodded at them then spoke in a magically enhanced voice. "We're all here today because of Harry Potter. Tomorrow, we may celebrate what he has done for us but today we must grieve for his loss.

"I don't need to come up here and tell you how amazing Harry was. You've all met him." A couple of grim agreeing smiles from some people here. "You all now of his loyalty, of his bravery, of his sheer strength. Alas, I am going to stop my sentimental blabbering and let his two best friends, the people who perhaps knew him more than anyone, talk. Mr Weasley, Miss Granger, if you please…"

The two stood up. Ron was wiping at his face with his tattered sleeve and the girl was sniffing loudly, trying to gain control of herself.

The girl went first. "I-well, Harry, is, was, well, he saved us all, didn't he? He outdid everyone. He was lovely and great and, and I'm sorry," she said with tears, "I can't do this." She turned to leave and go back to her seat but the boy, Ron, caught hold of her.

"Hullo," he said. "It's, well, it's like Hermione said, isn't it? Harry saved us all. I always knew he would. Because he's a hero, Harry Potter is. Nobody can deny it."

There was a pause from him and then, "I was there, you know, when Harry woke up after You-Know-Who, no, when Voldemort had told Harry in his dreams about his plan to wipe out Hogwarts. I was there when Harry woke up. I remember his face. It was, he was, so – brave.

"That doesn't mean he wasn't terrified. But he did it anyway! That's what made him brave!

"And he said to me, 'Ron, I know where he is. I know where Voldemort is.'"

Ron stopped here, swallowing, before going on. "But even I wasn't prepared when he hoped out of bed, threw on his robes, polished his wand and threw the floo powder into the fireplace and yelled, 'Voldemort!'"

"See he did it for us," Hermione said. "And he bet him. But maybe if he had waited, he would have beaten Voldemort and lived. But he went at that time because he was worried about us."

"Harry was the best mate ever," Ron said. "That's all I got to say. He was the best mate I could have asked for. And he was a hero. Definitely a hero."

Ron and Hermione sat down after that and they didn't cry again, although they were obviously very sad. Dudley didn't say anything to them and they didn't say anything to him.

Dudley felt like he was the odd one out. And it wasn't because of his un-magical blood.

He didn't know why he felt the way he did at that moment.

Then everyone walked up and said their own goodbyes to Harry. When Dudley stepped up, he looked down at his cousin. Something finally clicked with him. He looked back at his parents, met his father's eyes. And he recognised the feeling in them.

Shame.

The three Dursleys were united in their shame.

Dudley looked down at his cousin and really saw him for what he was for the first time.

Not a freak.

Not an embarrassment.

Not even a hero.

But a human being.

"I'm sorry," he said.

He would never get a reply.

'''''''''

__

Just a little something that was bothering me and I was bored so I wrote it! It's not really my usual thing. No romance at all – except perhaps Ron/Hermione but I don't think that really counts!

Anyway, if anyone's read this, please review!

Doesn't the summer just start losing its appeal when you're more than half way through?


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